Machine for cutting butter or other substances.



S. G. WALSTEAD.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING BUTTER OR OTHER SUBSTANCES. APPLICATION FILED DEC.26, I9l1.

1 ,288,77 1 c v Patented Dec. 24, 1918.

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'726 565'. M Jhue 60L 0 fizz; ammdx S. G. WALSTEAD.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING BUTTER OR OTHER SUBSTANCES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 26,19I7.

1,288,771. Patented Dec. 24, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

STANLEY G. WALSTEAD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

MACHINE FOR CUTTING BUTTER OR OTHER SUBSTANCES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 24, 1918.-

Application filed December 26, 1917; Serial No. 208,972.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, STANLEY G. WAL- STEAD, a citizen of the United States of America, and resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Machines for Cutting Butter or other Substances, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for cutting butter into square sections for use on the table.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction whereby the operation of the cutting means serves also to manually operate the intermittent feeding device by which the .butter is intermittently moved forward from time to time, and whereby, a machine of this kind is not only more simple and less liable to get out of order than certain machines hereto-fore employed for this purpose, but is also easily operated by a single crank-arm or other handle.

It is also an object to provide certain details and features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and desirability. of a butter-cut ting machine of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a side elevation of a buttercutter machine embodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan of said machine.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section of the device for adjusting the mechanism to vary the feeding motion.

Fig. 4 is a front end elevation of said machine.

Fig. 5 is a rear end elevation of said machine.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail view of the clutch which connects the feeding device to the operating shaft, showing certain portions thereof in section. a

Fig. 7 is a detail section on line 7-7 in Fig. 6.

As thus illustrated, the invention comprises a receptacle or holder A which is trough-shaped in cross-section, thereby to hold a rectangular brick of butter with one side.

corner thereof at the top and the opposite corner at the bottom. At its front end said holder is provided with a rectangular frame B provided with crossed wires 2) which divide the frame into four openings, so that the brick of butter when forced forward will have the end thereof divided into four sections. Said holder is preferably composed of two slabs of porcelain or glass a 4, so that these cleats can be removed to permit removal of the slabs a when it is desired to clean the machine. The longitudinal shaft C is mountedat one side of the holder in bearings 5 and 6 disposed at opposite ends thereof, and the front end of said shaft is provided with a bent or annular portion? between the end of which and the main part of the shaft a cutting wire 8 is tightly stretched to sever the end of the brick of butter, as the latter projects the required distance through the frame B, so that the four sections into which the end portion of the brick has been divided by the wires 6 will be shaved off to provide squares of the desired size and shape. The other end of the said shaft is provided with a crank-arm 9 having a handle 10 by which to rotate the shaft, and with a cam 11 which has an oblique face 12 at its outer A bracket 13 is secured to the body casting 1 and provided with a guide let in which the element 15 is slidable in a direction parallel with the shaft. This element 15 is provided with a roller 16 to engage the cam face 12, and is held against displacement by a screw 17 inserted in the down-turned end of the element and into the adjacent end of the said bracket. In this way, the position of the roller 16 can be changed at will to vary the feeding motion, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

A spring 18 is interposed between the cam 11 and the bearing 6, to yieldingly resist movement of the shaft endwise toward the front end thereof, and a shoulder 19 on the shaft engages the bearing 6 to limit the movement of the shaft by said spring. The intermittent feeding device D is in the form of a square or rectangular plate disposed in a vertical plane extending transverselyof 5 the holder and provided on its-face with grooves (Z which are opposite the wires I), so that the wires will cut into the brick of butter to an extent sufficient to enable the wire 8 to sever the four squares from the 10 end of the brick. Said feeding device D has an arm 20 which slides on the shaft C,

, andwhich is provided with a spring-pressed brakingdev'ice 21 to engage the underside of the adjacent slab a of the holder, so

that .thesliding motion of the feeding device ralong the shaft will be frictionally retarded. ,The clutch for connecting the feeding. deviceto the shaft comprises-aplate 22 loosely heldon the hook-shaped lug-23 on the rmeo in a position at right angles to the shaft,[andiprovided at its inner end with a; screw 24 to engage the stop 25 on the underside vof the forward end of the holder, thereby to limit the forward motion 25 of the 'feeding devicer A spring 26 is interposed between the inner end of the plate 22 and the upper andouter endof the arm 20, sothat the opening 27 in the plate 22 tends always to bind against the shaft C 30 in such vahmanner that endwise movement of the shaft toward the front end of the v machine will carry the feeding device along therewith, but whereby endwise ,movement ofthe shaft in the opposite direction will 35. not produce said binding action and will not be accompanied by any movement of the feeding device.

The operation of the machine is as folf flows z The feeding device is moved to the 40 rear end of the machine, and the brick of butter is placed in the holder. Rotation of the shaft C by. the crank-handle 10 will swing the wire 8 around and past the front end of the machine, and immediately thereta-after the cam 11 will engage the roller 16 and cause the shaft to move 'cndwise toward tl1e,front endof the machine, thus causing the forward step of the feeding device D,

7 so that the brickof butter will be forced forwardto an extent sufficient to cause the s end thereof to pass through the rectangular openings between the wires Z thus forming the four squares. When the wire 8 again swings around, it will cut off these four squares, and immediately after the feeding device Dgwill again move forward to push the brick of butter another step; Thus the v rotation of theshaft C feeds the butter forward and, serves also to cut ed or sever the end portion of the brick of butter. The grooves 03 will finally come close to the wires .5, and the wire 8 will then scrape the face of the feeding device d and take off the last four squares of butter.

The wires .1 can be applied in any sui;

able or desired manner. I or example, a

single length of wire can be secured at one end to the body 1 at 28, and may then be stretched across the frame in the desired mannenby means of notches 29 in the edge of the frame, (see Figs. -l and 5) and can then have its other end fastened the opposite side of the holder 30, the two of an upright 33 having its lower end mounted on a suitable base, (not shown) or supported-in any other suitable manner It will be understood, of course, that the invention is not limited to the cutting of butter, or to any particular use, but may be employed for cutting other substances or objects, and may be used for any desired purpose; v A

What I claim as my invention is 9O 1. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a holder, a feeding device for intermittently moving an object in said holder, a rotary and reciprocatory shaft connected to said device and extending parallel with the direction of travel of said object-,- cutting means on said shaft to sever the end of said object after each forward feeding movement thereof, means for rotating said. shaft to operate said cutting means, and mechanism to reciprocate said shaft endwise while rotating to intermittently operate said feeding device, 7 I I 2. A structure as specified in claim 1, said device having a sliding clutch connection with said shaft, and a friction brake for said device, so that said device moves forward with each forward endwise movement of saidshaft and remains stationary each time the shaft'moves backward. 116

3. A structure as specificd'in claim 1, and means against said cutting means to automatically subdivide the end of said object before the'severing thereof, said cutting means having movement with the endwise reciprocation of said shaft;

4. A structure as specified in claim l, said mechanism including a cam on said shaft, stationary means to engage said cam, thereby to shift the rotating shaft endwise in 120 one direction, to feed the object one step forward for each rotation of the shaft, and a spring to actuate said shaft in the opposite direction.

5. A structure as specified in claim 1, and means to ad ust said mechanism to vary the feeding motion of said device.

6. In a butter cutter, the combination of a rotary and endwise reciprocating shaft,

a feeding device operated intermittently by the reciprocation of said shaft, a cutter mounted on said shaft to rot-ate therewith, and instrumentalities to both rotate and reciprocate said shaft, so that said cutter and feeding device are operated by said shaft.

, 7 In a butter cutter, the combination of a rotary shaft, an intermittent feeding de-- vice having a clutch on said shaft, and instrumenta-lities for rotating and for thereby causing reciprocation of said shaftto inter- 10 mittently operate said device.

8. A structure as specified in claim 7 and means operated by power communicated through said shaft to cut the butter.

Signed by me at Chicago, Cook county, 15 Illinois, this 7th day of December, 1917.

STANLE Y Gr. VVALSTEAD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G." 

